VALORANT quietly shipped a HUD update, but players have begun to notice—and they’re mad

VALORANT’s HUD updates don’t always sit well with its assertive player base. This time, players have noticed a subtle, upsetting change in the indicators for health points (HP) and ammo, which Riot seems to have left out of the patch notes—and they aren’t happy. 

On June 2, in a Reddit post, a VALORANT player named TheHyperactiveDuck questioned why no one is talking about the change to indicators for low HP and low ammo, which have lost their profound red color and are no longer clearly visible.

“It flashing white and light red is so bad and so much harder to realize. No one wanted this change and the change is so annoying for quickly seeing if you are low in a clutch or high-pressure situation,” they said.

Before, the indicator was seemingly brighter, although it used to flash red and white like what it’s now.  

The difference may seem minor, but TheHyperactiveDuck’s post attracted several comments, all disapproving of the “unnecessary” tweak. Players are finding it harder to notice that their weapon needs to be reloaded and even missing out on a low HP indicator, both of which can lead to bad decision-making in VALORANT.  

“I noticed me and my teammates were losing more duels because we get out of ammo. The red warning is really faint now, so we don’t notice we have to reload,” a player noted. 

If looked at closely, the difference is barely visible, which is probably why no one sparked the discussion until now. While many assumed it to be a new UI feature, some players thought it was a bug. One player thought it was their imagination that the indicator was a brighter red before. 

It’s surprising how a mere visual change, which took quite some time for the community to realize, can steal a competitive edge in the tactical shooter. In a heated, chaotic fight, an inconspicuous urgency indicator can definitely be hard to notice, particularly for those who don’t have perfect vision. 

Players also slammed Riot for deploying irrelevant adjustments to the VALORANT’s user interface—changes that no one asked for. The indicator tweak wasn’t even mentioned in the patch notes, possibly because it was meant to be done tacitly. 

Previously, Riot quietly removed the “Headshot” text from below the Kill Banner to reduce visual clutter, another UI update that the player base didn’t approve of.  

As of now, we don’t know whether the reduction in the indicator’s color clarity is an intended change from Riot. If it’s just a bug, Riot may deploy a fix to eliminate the issue in the next patch.